Those Who Can Put You Together
by Nightheart
Summary: After seeing a member of Fourth Squad he happens to have been exposed to on a regular basis get pushed around again, Renji finally asks the very relevant question of just why the hell do they all put up with it? And does something about it.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Those Who Can Put You Together...

Author: Nightheart

Rating: M for Mature. Mainly for Renji's potty-mouth and some mild sexual innuendo.

Summary: After seeing a member of Fourth Squad he happens to have been exposed to on a regular basis get pushed around again, Renji finally asks the very relevant question of just why the hell do they all put up with it? And does something about it.

& & &

For a change Renji wasn't looking for a fight. Having just gotten back from laying the smack-down on a couple of Arrancars in Hueco Mundo, he'd been given orders by Captain Unohana herself (who was one woman he _never _wanted to cross, simply because he knew that old sayings existed for a reson, and it was a well-known proverb that "those who know how to put you together also know how to take you apart") to rest up for next few days and take it easy... the harder battle was yet to come and he had to regain his strength. At first he'd tried to "tch!" and say that a minor scuffle against some low-ranked losers wasn't going to keep a guy like him (a lieutenant!) down, but when faced with her overly-bright, overly cheerful smile suddenly decided that it was in his own better interests to listen to the good captain.

That was why he had spent the morning hanging about in the vicinity of the Fourth Squadron Head Quarters; he knew that if he went back to Sixth with nothing but idle time on his hands his captain would fill it with paperwork, and he already had quite enough thankyouverymuch. He'd already seen the interior of the treatment rooms, most of which were filled with noisy, complaining Eleventh Squad members (their own captain was apparently in quite a mood about his having missed a good fight). Unohana had chased him away from the very friendly nurses citing that he was distracting them from their work. He didn't see how that could be when several of them graciously offered to give him a physical examination in advance so he wouldn't have to wait in line when Squad physicals were due. Having been shooed off the premises, Renji, bored, was simply wandering around in the recuperation gardens they had, thinking about maybe taking a nap under the tree. So it very much was not his fault when a fight happened to run right smack into him.

Some shorter punk, running at full speed and not looking where he was going, rammed right into his chest. When his eyes snapped forward in panic Renji was startled (and realized a second later that he shouldn't be) to discover he actually knew the puny little rat. Small and slender, with large eyes... by the standards of the Eleventh Squad (which was where Renji had previously spent most of his time) the kid had "kickball" written all over him.

"S-soorrryyy!" he called over his shoulder as he scurried off, headed toward the headquarters as fast as his legs could carry him... which was actually pretty fast now that Renji looked at him.

"Ya better run ya little punk!" a deeper voice roared behind him.

Renji's eyes narrowed. He recognized the voice. Lower-rank Eleventh Squad man with a foul mouth and an even fouler disposition. Those two traits in and of themselves were actually the norm rather than the exception in Eleventh... that squad being full almost entirely of thugs who spent their time killing Hollows and brawling with each other. Renji had fond memories of the squad, but there had been one or two things about it he hadn't liked so much. The kind of crap a bastard like this guy was allowed to get away with would be one of those things.

"Gooood morning," Renji said with a bright smile. "Yajun Isinai, right?"

"What's it to ya?" he spat on the ground.

"Nuthin' asshole," the Lieutenant said in a friendly manner. Other squads might use friend, or man, but Eleventh was different in a lot of ways; squad mates and former squad mates recognized each other by the term 'asshole.'

"Jus' wonderin' why the hell yer runnin' around chasing mice," Renji said casually. "Ya got nuthin' better ta do?"

"I might. Little punk pisses me off, always starin' at me wide eyed ev'ry time he sees me," Isanai snorted, looking at the gate to Fourth that the kid had run in through like he was considering running in after the boy for kicks (literally).

"Looks like he expects sumthin' ta happen to him," he shrugged. "Makes me wanna hit 'im."

Typical street thug mentality; if someone looks like prey, you show your superiority by making sure they and everyone else know how much stronger you were. It had been a common, every-day occurrence on the streets where Renji had grown up. Renji and all of his family members in his childhood street gang had learned real quick to either stay out of the way of the larger, meaner thugs that ruled the streets, or they got hurt... sometimes badly. He'd lost a good friend to an older thug who'd been a mean drunk.

_Well, I was bored anyway_, Renji said, smile creeping across his face. Unohana would understand he was sure, some guys just weren't suited to peace and quiet.

Renji cracked his knuckes and pulled his arm back before letting fly with a nice textbook punch. The sweet crack of his fist impacting with Isinai's jaw was music to his ears and he made a very satisfying thump when he hit the ground.

"What the fuck?!" the guy demanded, rubbing his jaw from his position on his ass on the ground.

"Shaddap," Renji advised him, debating whether or not to follow up with a kick in the ribs or call himself satisfied.

"You think yer some kinda hero now yer not licking boots in Eleventh, bastard?" he snapped, glaring up at Renji.

Renji placed his foot on the man's chest and shoved backwards, knocking him over.

" 'Sat about lickin' boots?" Renji asked, grinding his foot downwards to prove his point.

"From where I'm standin' the only one lickin' boots here is _you_. Let's get one thing straight maggot, you don't get any stronger by pickin' on the weak. Yer skills'll wear off if ya do. Ya wanna get stronger, ya pick a fight with a stronger foe, otherwise yer _dead weight_, got it?"

Renji gave him a final shove in the chest with his foot and paced off back towards fourth, hoping to beg some food off one of the pretty nurses. He ignored the cockroach behind him as it scrabbled to his feet and slouched off.

"Pssst!" a voice hissed at him from the side.

Renji whirled, reaching for Zabimaru on instinct. He relaxed a moment later when he saw the tiny, scrawny, kid-sized form of that one little guy who'd helped Rukia escape. Renji thought he might have saved his own ass with a healing a time or two also. What was his name?

"Thanks a lot for your help," he said, bowing deeply.

That was another reason the guys from Fourth Squad kinda irritated him too, they were always bowing and submissive... No proud warrior would ever efface themselves like a little kid expecting to get smacked.

"Had nuthin' ta do with you," Renji lied.

Well it wasn't entirely a lie, he might owe the little runt but his own motivations probably came from inside his own head. Haru hadn't deserved what had happend to him back in streets of Rukon.

"Well, even if you did it for your own reasons, you still helped me out," the little guy said, bowing, yet again. Renji frowned in annoyance and wished he'd stop doing that. What he'd done didn't warrant effusive thanks.

"I really appreciate it," the kid continued, bowing yet again. "I thought I was a goner back there. He's the third one this week! And more persistent than the others."

Renji frowned again.

"This normal fer you kid?" he asked curiously.

"Sort of," Hanatarou said, ducking his head into his shoulders. His smile was shy and chagrined. "Eleventh Squad's been pretty rowdy lately because Captain Zaraki's been..."

"On the war path?" Renji suggested, nodding understandingly. He knew what his former captain's moods could be like; he could be affable enough usually, and he was kind of scary when he was in a good mood, but if he was in a _bad _mood... prepare to feel the _pain_.

"Out of sorts," the kid said diplomatically.

"Hn. What's Eleventh Squad captain's attitude got to do with you?" renji asked. "Just because old Zaraki's in a shitty mood doesn't mean anything outside of Eleventh HQ."

"Unless it does," the kid said, looking sort of apologetic. "He takes his moods out on his subordinates and they can't really do anything about it, so they in turn take their frustration out on anything they can beat up on and not have to worry about getting hurt."

"Hn," Renji grunted, acknowledging that it was often the way of things.

He'd taken his lumps in the squad just like everyone else, but it had only given him motivation to train harder so fewer of Zaraki's mean-ass hits landed or broke through his guard. However, a lot of the thugs in Eleventh were lazy sons of bitches and didn't like to spend a lot of their time in training. Lower ranked assholes mostly.

"Is it like that fer everyone, or just you?" he asked next.

"Pretty much everyone," the kid acknowledged with a sigh. "We're all safe enough in headquarters but if we go outside for our cleaning duties we can usually expect trouble. The best we can do is keep an ear out and try to avoid places without an escape route nearby and if one of them does stumble across us, run as fast as we can."

Renji blinked, out of sorts. For a moment it had been like he'd been an orphan back on the streets of Rukon; that was the standard advice that most of the "Nee-san's"gave kids for survival on the streets before they sent them out on their own. He'd gotten that advice himself at age seven before he'd been shoved out the door i=of the place that had raised him from infancy so that the next batch of hungry kids could be fed. He'd discovered quickly that, while it was good advice, it wasn't always (or even often on those mean streets) feasible. That was one major reason why kids banded together... mutual protection. The thugs that ruled the streets would hit you sooner than look at you, and the penalties for getting caught when stealing food were usually so harsh that no kid in their right mind wanted to risk getting caught without a chance to be rescued. The way of the streets was "steal what you need and fight to keep it." If you didn't learn to fight, you were prey, and prey didn't last long out there. Which, with the way Renji's mind worked, led to the very obvious (to him) question...

"Why the fuck do you take it?"

"I beg pardon?" the boy-man said.

"Sure, I can see that they're bigger and meaner than you, but that don't mean shit, not really," Renji replied.

Growing up as a young gang-leader in the Rukon streets, he'd quickly learned how to use the opponents size and strength against them. There'd been an old man who'd taught him enough in the arts of throws and holds to give him an edge to fight back with when some street thug, either restless or just plain mean, thought he could push Renji or any of his kids around and not have to answer for it. Renji had been a little punk then, but he'd looked after his own. Which was why it utterly mystified him that a grown adult would let other guys push him around... sure they were bigger than him, but there were ways that size could be taken advantage of.

"It's not how much bigger they are that we have to worry about," the little mite replied. "There are also more of them than there are of us."

"So what?" Renji said next. He grinned and shrugged a shoulder. "Just tell 'em that if they give you any crap you won't heal 'em. Assholes like that are always gettin' injured and needin' ta be fixed up. They'll straighten out real quick if you threaten to cut them off and make 'em heal slower."

The kid looked at him like he'd just blasphemed, or took his captain's squad coat off her back and pissed on it or something.

"I could _never _do that!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?" Renji asked, confused.

"I'm a healer! A healer can never just refuse to heal someone it's... it's just..." he faltered. "It'd be like _you _refusing to fight at your friends side. It's just a betrayal of who and what we are. Healers go where they're needed, do no harm, "for mercy and not for gain," and we never _ever _take sides. To refuse to heal someone just because we don't like them is... it's just not the sort of people we are in Squad Four. Ours is a _noble _calling."

"It's nobly gettin' yer ass kicked too," Renji noted dryly. "I don't get all that other crap ya jus' spouted, but you've done me a good turn a time or two so I'm gonna help you out."

"R-really?!" the boy said, looking amazed and excited.

"Yep," Renji said. "Yer clearly a weakling that thinks of himself as a weakling--"

"Hey!" the boy protested, offended.

"An I've seen yer Zanpaktou... one that puny and ineffective would be grounds for its _own _ass-kicking in Eleventh let me tell ya."

The boy made another offended noise and the expression on his face approached something close to a glare, a mousy one it was true, but it showed him that the boy had at least some pride, and that meant spirit. There was something there for Renji to work with. The boy wouldn't be a real fighter, but by the time Renji was done with him, he at least would no longer be a doormat.

"So I'm gonna teach you how to defend yerself. Rukon-kid style."

The boy immediately looked dubiuous.

"Stick with me kid," Renji said, smacking him on the back as a way to encourage him. The boy fell forward and Renji had to catch him by the collar.

"Er, sorry," he said righting him. "By the time I'm done with you, no-one'll be able to sneak up on ya."

"Ehehehehehehe..." the boy said, smiling weakly. "Great."

"Yer lucky I got free time on my hands right now," Renji agreed, muscling him off to an empty training court.

"Yeah, real lucky," he muttered.

* * *

Authors Note: This is me poking my nose into the Bleach fandom. I like Renji and I could fully see him acting as a rough sort of older brother to anyone he sees as maybe needing one, and I always sort of did wonder why the healers in Fourth et kicked around so much so this is sort of my answer to that. Let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

"Now," said Renji standing in front of him. "This may not be what they taught you in the academy, but those assholes at the institute only fight with their swords or that damn kido bullshit. I'm gonna teach ya how ta fight like a street rat."

"Um... why?"

"Well, first thing I learned as a street kid was that the whole damn world was bigger than I was--"

"You were a street kid?" the boy said, looking amazed again. Renji gave him a blank, flat look.

"You can't tell?" he asked. Renji felt that the odd look he gave the kid was perfectly justified, seeing as Renji was covered in tatoos and had that hardened, mean-eyed look about him.

"How'd you make it outta med school?" he wondered. "Anyway, that don' matter. First thing you gotta know in order to defend yerself is how to use yer environment ta yer advantage. Look around you..."

They were in a mostly bare practice ring with loose dirt flooring to help cushion the impact of a fall, there was a set of three pull-up bars nearby a bench for sit ups, a weapons rack with one rack-pole hanging off it and a sword practice dummy.

"Do you see anything that you could use to your advantage if someone comes after you?"

"No," he said after a pause. "There's nothing here that isn't bolted down."

"There's where yer wrong," Renji replied. "That push up pole could help you block or evade blows if yer unarmed. The loose pole on that rack could be used as a tripping bar if he's running full tilt. The loose dirt beneath your feet--"

Renji took a few quick steps, skidded down, scooped up and handful and cast it at one of the push up bars at man-height.

"Can easily be used to blind an opponent and help you escape."

"Won't that just make him angry?" the boy pointed out. "A lot of these guys can develop long-running vendettas if they have nothing else to do. One of my friends in Ward Three had to avoid a guy for a whole year because every time the man saw him he'd try to attack him. Eventually he forgot what it was that made him angry but..."

"Hmm, I see yer point," Renji frowned.

It had happened to him and some of his mates a time or two also, when he'd been growing up. Thugs rarely ever forgot a vendetta either, especially if it gave them something to do, chasing down weaklings was always fun fer a power rush for that sort of thug.

"Well it looks like just avoidance tactics won't work. What you have to do is be able to hurt 'em enough to make 'em respect you."

"I'm a healer--"

"Yeah yeah, I didn't say do permanent damage," Renji dismissed. "I just meant that you should hurt 'em just enough to show 'em yer not gonna take their bullying lying down and they'll think twice the next time about whether yer an easy target fer kickin' around."

The boy looked at him with one of those creepy looks healers sometimes gave him, like they were looking more *into* him and seeing things Renji didn't know if he wanted people seeing.

"Why are you doing this... really?" the boy asked him, giving him one of those Old Soul, creepy, Healer-looks. Renji tried not to look embarrassed and stammered a bit before sighing and answering him straight.

"A buddy o' mine, one of the boys who kinda followed me an' Rukia around--"

"Rukia and you knew each other when you were--?!"

"Shaddap," Renji snapped. "And don't talk about it to anyone, you'll bring her rep down."

The boy seemed to frown a little at that and look a little sharply at Renji. Again, renji had the odd feeling that he'd just revealed something more about himself than he'd intended but damned if he knew what it was.

"Anyways," Renji coughed in embarrassment for letting it slip. "An old friend of mine was sort of our group mascot, real cute little kid. He sorta looked up to me like I was his older brother or somethin' so I useta kinda, y'know, look out for him. He didn't learn to defend himself the way the other kids did an' I didn't teach 'im 'cause I thought that I'd be around to protect him. I mean, he was in my gang and that was what we did, we looked out fer each other. One night we were out getting some food and he crossed the path of one of the meaner thugs in the district, all he did was pull his usual begging trick with the wide eyes and puppy face thing. I guess the thug didn't like it, or was too drunk, cause he used his cane to knock him into the wall, 'cept that he musta hit 'im too hard 'cause Haru never got up from it."

"Ohh" the boy looked sickened. "That's-- that's awful."

"Shit like that happens a lot in that place," Renji said with a shrug. "I shoulda taught him how to roll with a hit and how to avoid taking a hit in a vital spot same as the others 'cause I really suck at protecting people. Besides, when I was in Eleventh the guys used to pick on you poor bastards and I laughed along with everyone else because it was kinda funny at the time. I didn't really agree with it, but I didn't stop it either. I know what it's like to be the poor dog on the bottom of the heap. You need to show 'em you've got bite or you'll be down there forever."

Gratifyingly, the boy looked at Renji like he simply couldn't believe that Renji might ever have known what it was like to be weak or helpless.

"So let's get started then," Renji said.

"Uh, right," the boy said. Renji gave up and said

"It's a courtesy among fighters of quality for the assholes to exchange names before beating the crap out of one another."

The kid gulped.

"I keep wantin' to say your name is somethin' like Hamtaro, but I know that's not it. What's yer name kid?"

"Hanatarou," he said shyly extending his hand. "Hanatarou Yamada."

"Renji Abarai, Sixth Squad Lieutenant," he said, crushing the boys small hand in the grip of his much larger one.

"Let's get down to business then."

"But... I only barely passed my sword exams in the Academy, I think the teacher just took pity on me and got tired of yelling at me so he passed me just to get me out of his class."

"Nah, yer not gonna need yer sword for this. Wimpy Zanpaktou like that'd just get in the way anyway," Renji dismissed. "You're gonna fight with your hands."

"But I--" he looked at his tiny fists.

"Jus' shaddap an' listen."

The boy shut up.

"Yer a real tiny little twerp," Renji said, sizing him up. "But like I said, that don't mean shit. One of the best fighters I know is no bigger than you are and she can take a poor bastard down so hard he don't get up right away. 'Course, she grew up that way too. First thing you gotta realize, is that size, especially in an attacker, is not _always _an advantage."

He looked frankly very surprised.

"Nobody ever tell you any of this before?" Renji asked, surprised at his surprise.

"No," Hanatarou said honestly.

"Hn, what're they teaching in the Academy these days?" he mused to himself and shrugged continuing with the lesson.

"Alright, here it is. I've noticed that thugs like that guy from earlier like to attack from behind or the side by running up on a kid an bowling him over like a charging rhinoceros. No finesse, just sheer power."

"For those guys it's usually more than enough. Rhinoceroses trample guys like me, you know?"

"Well it's actually lucky for you that they attack you that way. Moves like that are the easiest for shrimps like you to counter," Renji replied. "Because yer a tiny twerp, ya got a lower center o' gravity than them, and you can use their own force against them easier. Yer a Healer, so yer not so much about the attacking; this way, ya don' hafta."

"Oh?" Yamada said, seemed quite intrigued by that.

"Yeah, see... when he comes at you all you hafta do is plant yer feet..."

Renji took up a stance classic to most forms of martial fighting, Yamada was even familiar with it.

"But then ya sink yer weight like this and you can do a couple of things. You can round yer back and push up catching him in the side then ya pivot like this and shove, adding your force to his own puts him off balance and he'll fall forward." Renji demonstrated the maneuver.

"That looks hard..." Hanatarou said dubiously.

"No it's really easy, watch."

Renji ran through it a few times, even having Hanatarou rush at him like the toughs were wont to do from time to time to demonstrate.

"Another good one if someone comes at you from the front is this one. Sink your weight again like this, step in like this, with your right hand knock his arms to one side and with your left catch him by the jaw and push forward and up. Then take your hindward foot and quickly move in and place it around his own on the left. Hit the back of his knee with your foot and he'll go down for certain. See, you've used his own forward momentum to clothesline him. His feet are going one way and his head'll be going another."

"Looks really complicated."

"It's really only three steps, watch..." Renji demonstrated again.

"And the best thing about this maneuver," he said after the third demonstration. "Is that you can easily deal more damage if you want to, instead of catching his chin go for his throat if ya wanna put the hurt on 'im. Or, once he's down you can incapacitate him by retaining one of those hands you knocked aside and... well, probably easier if I show ya--"

Renji showed him various ways to twist wrists, hands and fingers. Yamada stopped him after the third one once he figured something out for himself apparently.

"Oh! I see, yeah well actually that way works, but if you want to bind up a person's arm to keep it from moving, Mister Abarai, there are several points along the arm and shoulder that can temporarily remove feeling, we use them when we heal people. And if you do this--"

Yamada hooked his fingers around the meat of his thumb and pushed his fingers back into his writs in one easy twist which was a new manuver on Renji.

"I knew a guy who was weeks in physical threapy after having gotten his wrist twisted up like this," Yamada in formed him, smiling shyly.

Renji grinned and ruffled the hair of his unexpectedly star pupil.

"Now yer gettin' it!" he said proudly. "It's all about using the body's own weak spots and vital areas against him."

"I'd never really thought about it, Healers usually go out of their way to ease pain not the other way around. It's the fighters job to cause pain and our job to ease it. This sort of thing... it kinda goes against the grain Mister Abarai. I mean the part where I'm just using my opponents own moves against him, that's not so bad but..."

"Look. I know these guys, I know how they think, and nuthin' else is gonna get through to 'em. If yer not strong enough to take respect from 'em by force then you don't deserve it, that's just the way the world works fer them. If you can put enough of the hurt on 'em to make 'em think twice then yer someone worthy of consideration as a peer, if yer not able to do that then they can do whaever the hell they want."

"But that makes no sense, you should grant every person respect as a thinking being!" Yamada protested immediately.

"And it's that very same naivete that makes all the other kids wanna beat the crap outta ya kid," Renji said cheerfully.

"Here's another way to use yer opponents force against him," Renji continued. "If he rushes at you from behind and grabs you around the neck, grab the arm around yer throat and sink yer weight before he can drag you off balance, you gotta keep yer feet on the ground. Now sink yer wieght and bend forward, now step back and bring yer backward foot around between his legs , now round yer back as you push forward and heave downward."

Renji walked him through the steps then played the attacker. Yamada panicked and apologized profusely when he did it right and Renji went flying over his back, landing on the ground and rolling to distribute the force.

"Ya got it!" Renji congratulated him lying down looking up at him. "Now, if you really wanna take him out, hit 'im in the chest with a chi dispersal burst. You Fourth Squad kids are good with Chi right? One solid knock in the chest with a concentrated blast'll take him out of the fight. A chi attack to the back on the first manuver I showed you works well too."

"But that's--!"

"Look, I'm just givin' ya somethin' ta think about, ya never know when you'll need it. You got guts an' smarts, use 'em," Renji replied.

Renji kept him running through the manuvers he'd taught him for a while and wished he'd had another person with him. It was easier to demonstrate the different kinds of throws with a teaching partner. The holds weren't so hard, and Yamada seemed to know more of them by simple healing training than Renji knew by experience. After a while Yamada looked at the sun and his eyes widened.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Mister Abarai, I have to leave or I'm going to be late for my next duty shift, I pulled evening in the clinic today."

"Don't let me keep ya, kid," Renji said. "Just practice some of those maneuvers I taught ya--"

"Do you know any others?" he asked eagrely.

"Sure lots," Renji said before he thought about it.

"Do you think, if it's not too much trouble, you could teach me some more?"

Renji thought about it for a minute, he had a lot of Lieutenant duties, but he could make some time in late afternoon for it. It never hurt to be in good with a Healer after all, and he did sort of owe the kid his life (even through he doubted the little shrimp would see it that way).

"Sure," Renji said. "An' ya know what, it'd be easier for me to teach you if you had a shrimp about your size to practice on, that way I can stand back and correct you and my body won't keep trying to move on its own to counter. Fighter's instincts y'know. Ask one of yer friends to come along an' help you drill."

"Sure, thanks again."

And he did that bowing thing, this time Renji seemed to have earned three of them. He rolled his eyes.

"Tch! Stop that. Now git outta here."

With a friendly nod at the little guy, Renji sauntered off back to Sixth and all the paperwork his boss probably had waiting for him.

* * *

**I know, it reads like a self-defense pamphlet, but the next chapter gets better. Please leave a reveiw behind (sadly, I didn't get any for the opening chapter, was it really that bad?).**

**Also, as a shameless plug, I'm posting up another Bleach fic, this one a nice, romantic little renkia that takes place in the time between when Rukia stays behind after the execution arc and when she meets back up with Ichigo later on. **

**"Stray Dog Strut" Lieutenant Renji Abarai had planned on ignoring the aspects of his new position that gave him entree into the social functions of the Seireitei nobility but Momo Hinamori, so fragile from her recent betrayal by her beloved former Captain, needed his support to put herself back out there, so it was Renji And Kira into the fray. Rukia Kuchiki had never been the outgoing sort, and that was especially true when it came to the social functions of nobility. She very much was _not _looking forward to her own re-emergence back into the spotlight of the nobility, especially after she had recently managed to bring a great deal of embarrassment to her adopted family's name... but go she would, because to do anything less would not uphold the Kuchiki honor. The glittering lights of the aristocratic social scene was a whole different world from the one they'd both grown up in, so it shouldn't be possible that a stray dog would be able to fit in with the pedigreed ones as easily as Renji managed it, but his presence in her world might just give her what she needed to be able to face the world without apologizing for it.**


	3. Chapter 3

Renji had finished his morning duties for the Kuchiki and before he could think up anything else for his Lieutenant to do, Renji begged off on a prior engagement and strolled off toward Fourth.

:_It'd be easier to teach if I had someone to demonstrate the throws,:_ Renji mused to himself as he sauntered along. :_But the only other person I know who's as good with them as me is--_:

He broke off mid-thought. Well why not? Their friendship was back on track and there was no reason why she _wouldn_'t. She'd probably _enjoy _it. Renji paused and thought about all the fun she used to have practicing the holds on him and amended his thought; no, she'd _definitely _enjoy it. With that, he altered course and flashed off to Thirteenth to see if she was free.

"Oi Rukia!" he called from the courtyard, sensing her presence in the squad had-quarters near the windows on the upper floor, and throwing pebbles at the screen until she answered.

A moment later the screen slid aside and Rukia's rather irritated face popped out and looked down at him from the third story.

"_What_, Renji?! I'm trying to read!" she snapped in annoyance.

"I'm callin' in a favor," he called back, waving cheerfully at her. "Are you free?"

"You're so loud!" she said. "But yes. Now what kind of favor?"

"Don't worry, it's the fun kind," he said with a smile.

She looked at him in suspicion.

"You get to toss me around and put me in holds."

As usual, the smile on her face made his world a better place. He was so pathetic. What kind of _real _man would happily let a girl have the advantage over him in a fight just because he knew it'd make her happy?

"Sound's great, I'm in," she said, hopping to her feet and flashing out to join him at his side.

"I'm helpin' yer friend Hamtaro out," he said. "He's such a wimp so I thought I'd give him a hand and show him a few things."

"That's nice of you," Rukia said in approval.

Renji tried not to feel too pleased about it. It wasn't like he was some kinda sap that glowed with every compliment he got from her or something.

"And it's _Hanatarou_, Hamtaro is a mortal world children's show about a hamster."

They caught up on recent times with each other as they strolled to fourth. Rukia looked a question at him when they reached their destination. When they walked into the Squad courtyard both Renji and Rukia were taken aback to see it somewhat crowded with young men and women wearing Healer green. When they saw them, the crowd all bowed in unison and said

"Please take good care of us!"

Renji blinked and surveyed the small crowd, there had to be upwards around thirty... a quick head-count gave him twenty six. He exchanged a long look and a shrug with Rukia as Hanatarou stepped forward, looking chagrined and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," he said bowing. "But when they heard about what you taught me, they all seemed so interested in learning it that I told them I'd ask if you'd teach them too."

Renji surveyed the crowd, picking out the number of females there were and said the only thing that popped into his head.

"Shouldn't you _women _already know this shit?"

Rukia elbowed him in the stomach and he looked over at her in consternation.

"What?" he asked. "It should be standard for females to learn this stuff."

"Excuse you?" Rukia said.

Her eyebrow pulled up in an aristocratic arch, exactly the same way her brother's did when he was about to nobly reprimand some poor sucker.

"Not that these twerpy-lookin' guys don't need to know it too," he hastily amended. "But I'm just saying..."

He shook his head like a dog dislodging water from its fur and shrugged. It was always smart to be in good with a Healer, and being in the good books of most of Fourth Squad was probably an even better idea. Especially with the way Renji practiced; in his lights, it wasn't a good practice-session unless someone was bleeding. He couldn't even begin to count the number of times he'd been draggd there (or had to drag someone else to Fourth) for a Healing after a nice, vigorous go-round to sharpen their skills. Sure, he was a lieutenant now, but a real warrior never stopped learning or trying to improve himself, so he anticipated still seeing the inside of the wards at Fourth for the next several years. Always a good idead to store up some credit. It wasn't like he was going to be stuck doing it regularly, one lesson wouldn't be too much of a bother.

"I guess it's just as easy to teach the bunch of you as it is to teach only a few," Renji said, shrugging with his voice. "So let's git started."

He had them pair off into two-person teams for practice and gather around with their buddies for the first lesson. They already knew how to roll and take a fall, so review for that wasn't necessary. He explained the mechanics behind the first maneuvers he wanted to teach them and then had Rukia demonstrate how it was done, with him acting as the attacker (since he was so much larger than she was).

"..and once you have him down like that, you can build up a charge and--- Hado thirty-three!" she shouted.

Lucky for him she zapped the ground next to him instead of aiming for his chest. Renji looked up at her and she grinned. He knew they were both sharing the same memory.

"But won't that hurt him?" one of their students asked.

"You better believe it," Renji muttered, remembering well the very first time Rukia had tested a Kido blast out on him, he'd been _down _for the rest of the day.

"It'll take him out of the fight, or rather, it'll take the fight right out of him," Rukia said as Renji kipped up to his feet. "That particular attack doesn't do permanent damage unless you let your kido burst get out of control, and you're all Healers, so you're well-trained enough not to. If you don't feel comfortable inflicting pain on that person, you can slap them with a binding spell. It'll immobilize them long enough for you to get away."

"If you don't want to use kido to take out your attacker,' Rukia said. "There's a lot of holds you can execute instead. Here."

Rukia gleefully demonstrated the various ways that arms and hands and wrists and fingers could be twisted turned and locked to incapacitate a person.

"It's good to see that you're as enthusiastic as ever about causing me pain," Renji said, rubbing his elbow after one particularly emphatic arm-lock.

"Whiner," she grumbled. "I didn't pinch that hard."

Renji snorted and thought about planting her on her ass in retaliation, but he didn't think that watching their two instructors try to pound into each other was going to help _anybody_. Especially when he knew that he was going to let her get the upper hand in the end anyway.

Renji decided he'd had enough of being tossed around and his limbs being twisted enthusiastically at odd and unnatural angles so he signaled Yamada up to be his dummy for the next lesson. Rukia moved to protest and he cut her off with a

"You need to learn this one too," he said shortly. "I shouldn't have been able to get a choke-lock on you like that without you bein' able to knock me back on my ass, so pay attention."

Hanatarou obediently walked up to the impromptu teaching circle where Renji gave him some quick instructions and a demo on technique so he could help out with the lesson, and Renji faced his class.

"Now, I'm sure you've had your share of assholes picking you up by the collar and slammin' ya back against something," Renji said to his audience. "I'll show ya how to break that hold."

Renji grabbed the smaller man by the collar to pick him up and pushed him back against the nearby wall, while trying to keep an angle that would allow his audience to see the demonstration.

"When he does this," Renji continued. "Drop whatever you've got, or better yet, throw it in his eyes, then cross yer arms like this and insert yer fists into the hole made by yer attacker's arms and separate 'em with a hard jerk to to the sides so his arms get knocked loose. This'll break his hold. Try it."

Yamada obligingly demonstrated the tactic Renji had sown him and slipped to the ground once Renji's arms were out of the way.

"The first and most important rule about defendin' yerself is to be flexible," Renji continued. "I mean don't just limit yerself to one trick. If he's holdin' ya up in the air like that, far from placing you at a disadvantage he's put himself in a place where you can reach several of his weak points. Now. Ya got more power in yer legs and feet so if ya c'n hit 'im below the belt do it. Ladies, you especially should know that if ya kick him in the nads and he'll let go real quick."

Yamada's eyes widened at that.

"The only problem with that cheap shot is that they usually expect it and they'll protect themselves. Here..."

Renji grabbed him by the collar again and put him up against the nearby climbing wall holding his feet dangling in the air.

"Now, how many vital points can you reach?" he asked. Yamada looked at him consideringly.

"Um... kidneys?" he said tentatively. He gently bent his knee and lightly lashed with his foot, not actually trying to hit it with any force but just to see if he could reach it at all.

"Good," Renji said aprrovingly. "What else?"

"There's a pressure point there, if you poke it right..."

"Ow!" Renji said in real surprise when the little guy did something to his wrist that hurt like _hell_!

"Don't forget what I showed you with the eyes and the nose and the throat earlier," Renji said, trying not to sound disgruntled or rub his wrist to make the after-pain fade a little more quickly. "If you can't hit 'im below the belt, gouge out an eye with yer thumb, if nothing else his attention will change focus an' ya can git away."

He set the kid down and faced his impromptu class.

Rukia rejoined the lesson by demonstrating next the various ways to break the two most common wrist grabs and how to turn a wrist grab into a counter by bringing ones opponent off balance. Next they demonstrated two more common techniques to use when an enemy grabbed by the neck from behind. Even Renji hadn't been really expecting her to kick him in the back of the head. Say what one wanted about Thirteenth, but they apparently kept up on their limbering exzersizes.

He spent the next ten minutes kissing the dirt while Rukia demonstrated the clothesline throw, a specialty of hers. Wench. He was beginning to think that the rest of the class was enjoying it too much because they repeatedly asked her to demonstrate it again, saying that they'd missed how she'd done it. Since it was one that had him on his back with her straddling his waist and her fingertips ready to crush his windpipe, he got the sneaking suspicion that it had become entertainment to them.

He had them pair up with their buddies and start working on how to break holds and to practice the throws against each other. Rukia and he circled among the groups, correcting a movement here, answering a question there and sometimes having to take over and re-demonstrate a maneuver to a set of buddies that wasn't working it out on their own.

In the course of his teaching he noted that the Healers of Fourth knew every single weakness that a person's body possessed, in fact, they were teaching _him _things! Combine that with their Kido manipulation and those guys had an awesome sort of power in their hands. They didn't need swords as long as they were facing other people. The sole problem that he was seeing was simply a basic lack of confidence. Fourth was pretty much always known for being the small dog on the bottom of the heap, he guessed that if that's what everyone always told them for so long, they eventually just came to believe it.

:_They grow a little more spine, an' I wouldn' wanna be the poor bastard that takes one o' them on_!: Renji thought to himself.

Those who knew how to put you together, also knew how to take you apart! There was a reason that it was a proverb.

"Another good defense against attack is to always travel with a buddy," Rukia said, when they called a break from the practice session. "A person will be more reluctant to go up against you if there's another person out there to even out the odds."

"An also, ya got someone to watch yer back to make sure a guy don' come sneakin' up behind ya,' Renji added, nodding firmly.

"Included in the use of the buddy system is an excellent way for taking down multiple opponents," Rukia added. "Out of all the strategies aside of avoidance tactics, teamwork is the most effective way to defend yourself against more than one enemy."

"If yer alone, the best thing ta do is prob'ly ta run fer it an' hope they don' catch ya," Renji said frankly. "But if ya got a buddy and he, or she, is good at Kido, ya got an easy way ta take down a lot o' people."

Rukia and Renji put their backs against the nearby restraining wall and Rukia put herself in her kido summoning form while Renji stood defensively, halfway in front of her but not so much in her way as to destroy her shot.

"Okay," Renji said, pointing to the five tallest individuals at random. "Rush at me like yer gonna take me out. When you feel a shock, go limp like yer unconscious."

The five he'd picked exchanged a long speaking glance and reluctantly banded together in a group and rushed at him. Renji quickly, but trying to be as gentle as possible with the poor fellows, rushed up to meet them, taking the first two fastest runners and tossing them back behind him by rolling them over his back. Rukia touched them with hands that glowed a soft pinkish color, reiatsu on its lowest setting. The guys gave a small gasp of surprise, because the shock stung in the same way that static electricity stung, then remembered that they were supposed to go limp. The third attacker, Renji just grabbed by the front of his shirt and sling-shotted behind him, pushing him off balance and into Rukia's waiting Kido attack. Fourth and fifth he took out himself with an easy clothesline and and a throw-and-hold respectively. Rukia mopped up fourth attacker with a kido attack to the forehead while Renji held fifth face-down on the ground, Renji sitting on the small of his back with the guy's arm twisted up behind him.

"As you can see, I used my lowest setting so that no-one was actually hurt," Rukia said as they helped their fallen demonstrators to their feet and dusted them off. "But in a real fight, you'd be using enough to knock them unconscious. It doesn't even require that you fire off a Hado attack, just build enough of a charge in your hands to knock them unconscious."

His audience seemed to be about evenly divided between people who were amused and a little anticipatory about learning the new technique and those who seemed to be a little troubled by it. Oh well, that wasn't _his _look out, he could teach the stuff to 'em, but they didn't have to use it if they didn't _want _to. Even if they never did, it might be a bit of a comfort to them that the knowledge was there if they needed it. If they _did _need it, they weren't getting hurt by being ignorant.

"If yer in the open, the best thing to do is fight back to back," Renji said. "Fighting this way is a lot harder than fighting with yer back to a wall because there's always the chance that you could trip each other up or some enemy could manage to get between you. It takes practice to be able to keep one eye on your buddy and one eye on your enemy."

"One trick to it," Rukia said, seamlessly picking up where he'd left off. "Is to keep a running dialogue with your buddy, let him know whats up and who's coming. Even if he's got his own problems to think about, it'll help you win the battle."

Renji obligingly placed himself at her back and let her take this part of the lesson.

"Another trick is to launch your own targets into your buddies enemies," Rukia said. "Trust me, big guys don't like it when they spend all of their time bumbling into each other because not only does it **_not _**make them feel like they're big and tough, more than likely they'll turn on each other and fight among themselves and the two of you can usually get away in the confusion."

"It doesn't work as well fer smarter opponents," Renji admitted as an aside. "But as fer the kinda thugs that'll generally pick on weaker fighters, it works pretty great on them."

"You might want to get together, some of you, outside of your work here in Fourth and keep in practice, I know none of you are much in the fighting department but being a tank like this guy here isn't always an advantage," she pointed to Renji. "With the right application of force, and some quick thinking on your part, you'll have a better chance of coming out of a situation unharmed. The key, and most important thing, is to _always be aware of your surroundings_."

"If you know there's more likely to be trouble in the streets, it's always best to grab yer buddy an' make 'im come with ya," Renji said. "I don't mean to sound gender-biased here, but especially you _ladies_. I know Rukia here can make a grown man cry fer 'is mama, but some o' th' rest o' ya might look like a good target if a man's fulla the bottle, if ya catch my drift here."

Rukia nodded, supporting his point.

"A person when they're sober might never dream of trying that, but people do stupid things when they're drunk," she said.

Renji tried not to smile in reminiscence of some of the gems he'd gotten away with under the influence. There had been one incident (as yet unsolved to this day) where the fish from the Elventh Division koi pond had wound up gracing the Fifth Division's barrack's bath-house. He thought that Momo still held her suspicions about that one.

"In addition to that," Renji added. "I'm sure all you Healers know that alcohol deadens a guy's ability to feel pain, so if ya wanna get a person off ya, ya really gotta make him _feel _it."

"So, once more from the top, we'll run through what we've covered so far," Rukia said, taking control of the class room.

Renji smiled a little reminded of ther Rukon days together; Renji had been the leader of their little gang of street toughs, the one who kicked and bullied their people into getting things done, but Rukia had been, undeniably, the brains of the outfit. Renji could rely on his plentiful supply of brute strength to face down tougher opponents, kick people into respecting his own groups particular sovereignty, and keep his own people from getting into deeper trouble, but it had been Rukia's quiet strength and intelligence that had kept them fed and clothed. Rukia had picked the targets, and devised new ways and strategies to get a hold of the things that those miserly old merchants had guarded so jealously and it had been Renji's job to make people listen to her and get it done. Rukia proposd and Renji disposed, and that was the way thier partnership had run. This odd little system had prompted many a siggering comment from among thier friends about just exactly who was running the gang.

He'd missed the way they fell into step beside each other, Renji'd always ben a social kinda guy and he had a lot of friends in all the other squads and among the Lieutenants, but there was no-one in his life quite like Rukia. He'd fight through hell just so he could fight at her side, and he didn't think that there was anyone, even Kuchiki, who could deny him now his right to do so.

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**And speaking of Kuchiki, in the next and final chapter (this one's just a quickie, only four chapters long) enter... the protective older brother. I had sort of started with this scene in my head and the three chapters that came before this were just a pretext to set things up.**

**I'm posting up the first Chapr of Stray Dog Strut, so please drop on by and read it. Look forward to it please.**

**Reveiws are love... Love Me?  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here it is, the chapter we've been waiting for!**

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Renji figured that the lesson was over with and was about to wrap it up and thank Rukia for being a good sport but she seemed to think there was more.

With a sinking feeling, Renji read her look and realized what she was going to expect him to do next.

"Aw c'mon!' he said, trying not to sound like he was begging her. "Not _that_!"

"They should know it Renji," she said firmly. "The women especially. And since you brought it up anyway..."

"But--" he protested, unable to finish his protest without sounding a little like a wimp.

:_But it's **embarrassing**_!:

"Look at it this way," she coaxed. "Think how bad you'd feel if it turned out later they needed to know it, and you didn't teach it to them. Now get over here."

Trying not to look like he was sulking about it, Renji obeyed.

"Next we'll be teaching you how to defend against attacks when your attacker has you prone," Rukia said, her tone businesslike. Renji wasn't fooled for a minute, her eyes were laughing. She knew damned well how uncomfortable this made him and she was _enjoying _it!

"Part of it will be in how to break a prone choke-hold," she continued. "But the other part will detail what to do when his intent isn't to _kill _you."

Renji flushed a little and looked uncomfortably off in the other direction. He shoulda remembered the first rule of the Soul Reaper Academy; never, _ever _volunteer! The atmosphere was made worse by some of the heckles and cat-calls from his audience and he was seriously considering stomping off in a strategic retreat, but Rukia knew him too well and pulled him down by the ear. The comedy of a woman half his size bullying him around (when he very much outranked her) seemed to be breaking up some of the tension that came when dealing with an uncomfortable subject.

"Ow!" he grumbled, glaring over at her.

"You'll start out with one of your pair on their back," Rukia instructed, lying down on the ground. "While the other one straddles him over the waist."

Renji wasn't moving. No way, _absolutely not_. Rukia wasn't letting it go at that, and she called out merrily

"I'm waaaiting!"

This of course unleashed a whole chorus of teasing cat-calls (especially from the women) like "he's shy, that's so cuuute!" and "Aww, look at him blush!" Which of course only made it worse. He glared at his erstwhile partner, but it wasn't nearly as effective when his cheeks were almost as red as his hair. She just smiled back up at himand crooked a finger saying

"We don't have all night, I promise I'll be gentle."

He just glared harder around his embarrassment, which only seemed to make her even more amused.

Renji stood over her and lowered himself to straddle her waist on his knees. This time it was the guys making cat calls. Rukia wasn't helping with her commentary about his wanting to be on top. The smart-ass. He was nearly tempted to throttle her for real when he wrapped his hands gently around her throat. She often had that effect on him.

"If your arms are free," Rukia said, actually aiding in continuing the lesson so that he could get out of the embarrassing position. "You can break the choke-hold the same way you did previously, or you can go for more vital spots."

She demonstrated by touching her fingers to his solar-plexus, his ribs, the sides of his kidneys and so on.

"You can also catch him off balance by bringing your knees up suddenly," she said next. "Then you can butt him in the head to give him something else to think about. If you're lucky you'll get him in the nose or the chin."

She demonstrated this by snapping her knees up quickly, which caused him to move suddenly forward and she jerked her head up, butting it into his own forehead. It didn't tickle that was for certain.

"Oww!" they both said in unison, rubbing their foreheads.

"Well it wasn't supposed to actually _hit _him, but you get the point...' Rukia rubbed at her own forehead. "Did any of his paint wear off on me?"

Renji glared at her for the tatoo comment.

"They're permanent," he growled, sensitive about his artwork.

"My mistake," she grinned at him impishly.

"Funny girl," he grumbled. "C'n we git this over with already?" He wanted to be about _anywhere _but there right then.

The grin widened, and he glared harder. He could see on her face what she was too ladylike to tease him about out loud. The rest of the class was _not _so inhibited by an aristocratic background, much to his dismay. The heckling ranged from "done already?" to "not all women like quickies."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," he muttered.

"There will be times when your assailant wants to hedge his bets," Rukia continued, taking mercy on him.

"So chances are he'll have your arms pinned in some way. Now, you can execute a move that'll knock him off balance and give you the leverage to gain the upper hand. When he's trying to gather up your wrists so he can pin them, spread your arms as far apart to the sides as you can but do it quickly. At the same time, snap your knees up. Both of these moves have to be done quickly and at the same time, because it'll pull him forward enough to get him off balance."

Rukia demonstrated the simultaneous snapping motions with arms and legs and Renji was bumped forward. He already knew what was coming next and sure enough not a half a heartbeat later Rukia levered up with her hips and twisted her tiny frame, pushing him to one side and gripping with her thighs as she rolled with him so that he was the one pinned on his back and she had the upper hand. It was one of her favorite maneuvers. There were catcalls from the side of course, the pose and the maneuver were just simply too suggestive to let pass unremarked. No point in not having a little fun with it.

"Now who has to be on top?" he grinned up at her. She grinned back, teasing

"You like it."

"Ya got me," he said lazily, looking like he was just gonna lay out and surrender. Rukia wore her usual smug little smirk... right up until he levered her right off him and planted her on her butt on his right side.

"Looks like we're done here," he said with relief, making to go.

"Not quite, I have one more I want to show them all and then you can go," Rukia said, rolling back out to a prone position.

"I'm startin' ta think ya _like _this," he teased her dryly.

Rukia, genetically unable to resist teasing him, replied in a commanding tone

"Assume the position."

That, of course, got a couple of laughs and some unsolicited advice from some of the nurses about proper procedures for that kind of thing. Renji rolled his eyes and resumed his role as the attacker. He kept his head firmly in the game because if he paused for a minute to think about their relative positions to one another, he just knew his body was going to _react _and that would be _beyond _embarrassing. Not to mention how much worse it would be if she _noticed _it; Rukia didn't strike him as the type to take _that _sort of thing in stride. They'd only just gotten their friendship back and he was not going to lose it because he couldn't control himself.

_:Unsexy thoughts. Unsexy thoughts... Old Man Yama in a body stocking_.:

That would kill any erection dead before it started.

"Now, one thing you want to remember girls is that if you're being attacked and he's not holding your throat, scream as loud as you can and make as much noise as you can."

She demonstrated her point by letting out a very authentic-sounding scream and thrashing under him. Continuing to play his part, Renji continued trying to pin her arms so she couldn't move.

Naturally it was at that exact moment when her Elder Brother walked in through the front gate of Fourth to see him straddling his screaming kicking little sister.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura!"

"Shit!" Renji snapped rolling off her in a blink and to his feet to face his very very pissed off Captain. He knew he wouldn't have time to explain before his life was ended, so Renji only spent the single breath he had on saying

"Roar, Zabimaru!"

His sword was out and extended, blocking the first scattering of cutting flower-petals before they could go to work on him. Renji was already moving before the blossom cloud could swing around for another pass.

"Brother!" Rukia called, rolling quickly to her feet. "It's not--"

Her brother was unheeding of her attempt, already intent of dealing the finishing blow to Renji. He couldn't even blink before the Captain was right next to him. Renji moved with a theif's automatic self-preservation reflexes when Byakuya moved to end his life with a strike to the solar plexus. Renji slid low and whipped Zabimaru around and in, forcing his Captain to temporarily abort his attack.

"Dance! Sode No Shiraiyuki!" he dimly heard Rukia call in the back ground.

Renji didn't have time to do more than note it vaguely, he was already moving, desperate to keep his boss from killing him just long enough for him to explain what was really going on. All of this was happening in the space of a few desperate heartbeats, before anyone had even a chance to register what was going on and react. He somehow doubted that the Healers were going to be able to do much for him, except maybe try to piece back together what tiny shreds were left of him after Captain Kuchiki was done.

Renji used his momentum from his slide, kicked his feet up and launched himself into the air by his left hand, sending a quick downward slash Kuchiki's way, more as a distraction than because he thought he'd actually land a hit. The Kuchiki was too good for that. The soon-to-be former Lieutenant Abarai could all but sense the deadly blossom petals gathering for another strike above him.

"Tsugi No Mai... Hakuren!" Rukia called.

On instinct, Renji dodged out of the way, crashing to the ground and rolling to his feet crouched in a defensive formation in front of Rukia, just as they once had as children. Even though Renji was the one who needed saving this time.

A white ripple of Kido-fed ice flew in a shower of silver, sweeping out in a wave at where her brothers petal-blades had gathered for another attack. The blossoms were enveloped in a sheet of ice and frozen solid into a lump.

"Brother it's not what y-" Rukia tried again.

But Renji, knowing his Captain all too well, was already moving to avoid his next attack. He ducked behind Rukia to buy himself a precious second as he brought Zabimaru into blade-rest to prepare for another round of attacks. He shot his blade out at the lump that was already forming cracks in the ice in preparation to shatter it completely. Zabimaru sprang full force at the block, shattering it, but Renji whipped the chain-blade to one side, scattering the peices before Byakuya could regain control of them completely.

"Not gonna listen!" Renji advised her shortly as he dodged to the right, darting inside a small window between Rukia's body and the place where the petals had been scattered so that the Elder Kuchiki couldn't immediately attack him.

Rukia stood with her blade held in ready formation, clearly torn between whether or not she should be attacking her precious Elder Brother to defend Renji.

"Little help!" Renji prompted, dodging again to one side and sending a full-force slash to meet her brother's newly released flower blossom petals.

He'd discovered that the centrifugal wind created when he twisted Zabimaru's extended blade onto a spiral and released a small flare of kido along its length could deflect the main brunt of an attack by the Senbonzakura. Renji ducked and dropped a shoulder to just take the rest of the slice as it hit him.

Renji only had to keep Byakuya's attention focused on him long enough for Rukia to make her move. Byakuya would never physically hurt his own little sister so once she made her point that she wanted him disarmed, he'd stop attacking Renji. Hopefully.

He pushed his blade out and around in a loose spiral. The attack wouldn't distract him for more than a few seconds but that might be all he needed. Renji pushed his Kido out along his flying spiralled blade and called out

"Higa Zekko!"

The individual serrated fangs began to separate from each other with a flare of reddish colored reiatsu and pointed inwards, focused on the Sixth Squad Captain. Renji knew that he wasn't going to actually land a hit, and as predicted Byakuya was well out of harms way before even the bonds that tied all of Zabimaru's fangs together could dissolve into reiatsu, but fortunately at that moment he felt (rather than saw) Rukia move.

She slid in low, feet first, in a move that he knew so very well. They'd pulled this maneuver together so often when they'd been kids, rescuing one of their littles from the much larger adults, that Renji didn't even have to _think _about what he was going to do next. As perfectly choreographed as though they were two figures in a dance, Renji, following her lead, came in from the side, his hands caught up the arms of his Captain while Rukia knocked his feet out from under him. Renji pushed forward and down, bringing Byakuyas wrists together and jerking upwards behind the mans back. The Captain's chin hit the dirt and the Lieutenant winced internally. Rukia, already down low, brought her sword point-down into the dirt right next to her brothers throat.

"Freeze already!" Rukia hissed, bringing her head down by his ear, her tone a mixture of annoyance and exasperation. The cloud of sword-petals, which had been about to descend on him again, abated, even as Renji continued to hold his own Captains arms up behind him in a firm hold.

"Renji wasn't attacking me Brother," she said quietly, in irritation. "We were just putting on a demonstration."

Byakuya seemed to become aware of his wide-eyed staring audience the same instant Renji and Rukia remembered they were there.

:If he loses face, I'm going to be cleaning latrines for the rest of my career: Renji thought in a panic.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen,"

Renji said, smiling his overly-bright lying-Lieutenant smile. "Is how an effective buddy system can use teamwork to bring down an opponent much stronger than they are."

The lie escaped his lips in a rush as he very quickly let the Captain go and brushed him off. The fourth squad nurses in his class were exchanging dubious looks, as though uncertain whether they should buy it or not. Renji pressed on without missing a beat.

"We'd like to thank Captain Kuchiki here for coming out and being such a good sport about it. Poor guy, he'd do anything to humor his dear sister, isn't that sweet? Okay, class dismissed!"

He tried not to show his relief when one by one, they shrugged, slowly buying to lie. A few even commented on how sweet it was that her older brother would volunteer to help out his little sister. Just a little longer and he could make his escape and put the mess behind him for good!

:Geeze, I nearly bought the farm back there thanks to Rukia's twisted sense of humor!: Renji thought, heart still pounding in his chest. She got him into more trouble than anyone else he knew!

"Thank you very much for your hard work Lieutenant Abarai," the sweet, caring voice of Captain Unohana interrupted from behind them all, nearly scaring another few decades off his already shortened afterlife.

"I'm sure the class appreciates it too," she said with one of her bright, motherly smiles. "I look forward to seeing the two of you back here again next week to help the class work on their technique. It really is very generous of you to spend your time helping the members of Fourth gain a new set of skills for the field."

Let it not be said that the Captain of Fourth was a foolish woman, She'd seen a way to both help the Lieutenant out and secure his aid and gratitude for the foreseeable future. There was a definite aura of amusement about her that said she saw _all _of the advantages to her intercession.

"S-sure, anything to help out the Fourth Squad," he agreed.

She had him and they both knew it. He'd be teaching lessons there for the foreseeable future.

"I imagine all the rest of you have your own duties to be about by now, those bandages don't roll themselves," Unohana prompted, smiles all motherly concern. Fourth Squad obediently cleared the courtyard, though not without a great many dubious looks that said they were wondering if it was such a good idea to leave them alone out there or if it might be a better one to remove their two temporary instructors in the interests of not having to do clean-up on the mess later.

Kuchiki the Elder gave both him and Rukia a long searching look and then pivoted on his heel, apparently forgetting, in the intense bruising of his dignity, whatever it was that had brought him there in the first place. Renji turned to Rukia, pleading look on his face.

"I'm _so _gonna get it later. Rukia, put in a good word for me. He's yer brother right? He listens to you, _right_?"

"Not a bit," Rukia said, patting his hand in mock-sympathy.

"I'll have a nice clean bed all ready for you Lieutenant," Unohana said, unexpectedly joining in the fun. She meant a nice clean hospital bed waiting for when they deposited his beaten body after the Captain was done with him.

"Make sure you send some nice flowers to my funeral," he muttered as she exited the courtyard to return to her head-quaters.

The late evening was bathed in a sudden silence as it was only just the two of them. The fight had happened so fast, mere heartbeats in length, from the time that Byakuya Kuchiki had walked through the gate into the courtyard to the time they managed to subdue him and make him see reason. Abruptly, Renji smiled.

"What's that look about?" Rukia asked.

"Even though it was a team effort and not on my own, and even though we kinda cheated because he'd never attack you, Rukia... we just made Byakuya Kuchiki_ eat dirt_!"

Renji chuckled to himself, a wide grin stretching its pleased way across his face. He let out a triumphant whoop. It wasn't as great a victory as beating him the guy with Zabimaru, but he'd still _take _it.

"Older brother..." Rukia said in dawning dismay. She'd just attacked her older brother, in public, in front of witnesses! Rukia suddenly looked like she might be ill.

"He's not going to be happy," she thought, stomach clenching.

"It was a misunderstanding, he'll cool off," Renji assured her. Or tried to, he knew Rukia was safe enough but Renji had the sneaking thought that the next few weeks were not going to be fun ones for him. Still, always best tryo try to see the bright side of things, that memory of Kuchiki's chin hitting hte ground was going to be one he would savor for a very long time to come.

"Good teamwork there," Renji congratulated her. "Just like old times huh?"

It had been just like old times, when it was them against the world. There was nothing to feel nostalgic about in the hard life in the lower Districts of the Rukongai, always hungry, always cold (except when it was hot), always dodging angry merchants of fighting with people to keep what little they'd managed to steal. But even so, there was a bond there, forged in times of hardship and suffering that for all of their mistakes and misunderstandings, had never truly been severed. Renji hoped he wasn't the only one that treasured their connection. he also hoped he wasn't the only one who had noticed how easily they had gotten it back, the smooth way they worked together.

Rukia blinked up at him and suddenly seemed unable to keep from laughing. Renji joined her and it felt good.

"Yeah, just like old times."

END

* * *

**That's it, final chapter of this thing. I wrote it just to be a quickie cuz I kinda had this scene in my head. I might have to write a follow-up epilogue though, just so we can see scrawney little Hanatarou put theory into practice. I kinda like that idea. Anyway, please leave a contribution in the little box (reveiw).**


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